Roman Empire, 1782

By: Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)

History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire is perhaps the greatest work of history in the English Language. This monumental work was written by Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), a British parliamentarian and soldier. He conceived his plan for the book while "musing amid the ruins of the Capitol" on a visit to Rome. For the next 10 years he worked away at his great history, which traces the decadence of the late empire from the time of the Antonines and the rise of Western Christianity.

 "Gibbon is a kind of bridge that connects the ancient with the modern ages," noted Thomas Carlyle. "And how gorgeously does it swing across the gloomy and tumultuous chasm of these barbarous centuries." Indeed, Gibbon, the supreme historian of the Enlightenment--the illustrious scholar who envisioned history as a branch of literature--seemed almost predestined to write his monumental account of the Roman Empire's terrible self-destruction. "I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion," wrote the author in the famous epigram that summed up his towering achievement in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."Gibbon is not merely a master of the pageant and the story; he is also the critic and the historian of the mind," said Virginia Woolf. "Without his satire, his irreverence, his mixture of sedateness and slyness, of majesty and mobility, and above all that belief in reason which pervades the whole book and gives it unity, an implicit if unspoken message, the Decline and Fall would be the work of another man....We seem as we read him raised above the tumult and the chaos into a clear and rational air."

 The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature , April 1, 1995, had the following to say about this work:

Historical work by Edward Gibbon, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. A continuous narrative from the 2nd century AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it is distinguished by its rigorous scholarship, its historical perspective, and its incomparable literary style. The Decline and Fall is divided into two parts, equal in bulk but different in treatment. The first half covers about 300 years to the end of the empire in the West, about 480 AD; in the second half nearly 1,000 years are compressed. Gibbon viewed the Roman Empire as a single entity in undeviating decline from the ideals of political and intellectual freedom that had characterized the classical literature he had read. For him, the material decay of Rome was the effect and symbol of moral decadence.

Gibbon dedicated three chapters (Chapter L through Chapter LII) in his book to talk about the history of the Arabs and Islamic Empire. Those chapter were further divided into several parts. The following is a brief description by Gibbon himself of these three chapters:

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants. (8 parts)

Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants. -- Birth, Character, And Doctrine Of Mahomet. -- He Preaches At Mecca. -- Flies To Medina. -- Propagates His Religion among the Arabs. -- Voluntary Or Reluctant Submission Of The Arabs. -- His Death And Successors. -- The Claims And Fortunes Of All And His Descendants.

Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. (9 parts)

The Conquest Of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, And Spain, By The Arabs Or Saracens. -- Empire Of The Caliphs, Or Successors Of Mahomet. -- State Of The Christians, &c., Under Their Government.

 Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs. (5 parts)

The Two Sieges Of Constantinople By The Arabs. -- Their Invasion Of France, And Defeat By Charles Martel. -- Civil War Of The Ommiades And Abbassides. -- Learning Of The Arabs. -- Luxury Of The Caliphs. -- Naval Enterprises On Crete, Sicily, And Rome. -- Decay And Division Of The Empire Of The Caliphs. -- Defeats And Victories Of The Greek Emperors.

	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part I.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part II.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part III.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part IV.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part V.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part VI.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part VII.
	Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants - Part VIII.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part I.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part II.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part III.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part IV.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part V.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part VI.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part VII.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part VIII.
	Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs. - Part IX.
	Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs. - Part I.
	Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs. - Part II.
	Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs. - Part III.
	Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs. - Part IV.
	Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs. - Part V.